


Light Years Away

by rollyjogering



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Lives, F/M, I am LOOKING, Oneshot, Redeemed Ben Solo, World Between Worlds, ok I lied it's not a oneshot, or is it (thinking emoji), rey in that dress though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23389705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rollyjogering/pseuds/rollyjogering
Summary: As he took a look at his surroundings, it dawned on him that all his encyclopedic knowledge of the galaxy could not tell him where he was. The sky was an inky black, but so were the ground and the walls, if they could be called such. Distantly, he could make out silvery wisps, which he told himself he would inspect once the throbbing in his side subsided.Ben’s shoulders slumped. It seemed he was destined to spend even the afterlife in darkness, and alone.Or: Ben finds himself alive, in the last place he expected to be.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. You could've been right there next to me, and I'd have never known

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Learning to work with what we’ve got so this fic will be tros-compliant (*sigh*) but picks up on the Ben in the World Between Worlds speculation. I’m not entirely sure how the WBW (or the eu) works, but I tried to do as much research as I could. Hopefully there aren’t many mistakes, but any inaccuracies are mine! 
> 
> That said, I hope this fic is still enjoyable! It’s been almost four months and I’m still in a post-tros funk. I hope this fic is a step in finally getting past the first stage of grief. Enjoy!

The first thought that came to Ben Solo when he awoke was a single name.

_Rey._

The second was a question: _Am I dead?_

“I must be,” he mused aloud, the sound of his voice echoing. Rey’s absence seemed to confirm that he was certainly gone from the plane of the living.

Still, he wasn’t completely convinced this wasn’t all a dream that would end and he would wake up either covered in bacta patches and bed-ridden for a month, or left for dead on Exegol. And he couldn’t tell if he would be waking up alone with Rey, or, in the _pleasant_ company of the resistance.

He rolled his eyes, then tried to sit up with some difficulty, pain piercing his side. He lifted his sweater, checking for bruises or the tell-tale blooming of blood, but there were no such marks. Still, the pain of his injuries felt fresh. 

As he took a look at his surroundings, it dawned on him that all his encyclopedic knowledge of the galaxy could not tell him where he was. The sky was an inky black, but so were the ground and the walls, if they could be called such. Distantly, he could make out silvery wisps, which he told himself he would inspect once the throbbing in his side subsided.

Ben’s shoulders slumped. It seemed he was destined to spend even the afterlife in darkness, and alone.

But this plane seemed to have its own ideas, as slowly, there was movement to his right. A butterfly—blue, maybe? flitted from what seemed to be a pathway, and suddenly the whispers of distant voices assaulted his senses all at once—

_You cannot deny the truth that is your family._

_Kylo Ren is dead. My son is alive._

_See you around, kid._

_Ben._

—voices, all swirling around in his mind but somehow echoing in the vastness of this place. 

Ben slumped to the floor, his hands coming up to his ears to block out the sound. The voices only seemed to get louder, and he swore he could hear Lor San Tekka and his father, his uncle, and his mother, their voices all coalescing into a storm of the past. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the voices stopped.

The butterfly was back.

From his fetal position on the ground, he could see it fluttering about, the ground underneath it seeming to sparkle with every movement of its wings.

He didn’t know how long he stayed that way, watching the butterfly, but soon his body began to ache from his position on the ground. He struggled to pull himself up, sitting on his knees as the side he had lain on throbbed with dull pain. 

These voices flooded him for a reason. Ben was sure. Something brought him here, which meant this couldn’t be his end. He just had to find his way out. 

Physically, he knew there was no one else on this plane. He glanced at the blue butterfly again, and it was as if it was waiting for him to get to his feet. He had a feeling he wasn’t alone; not truly. 

Ben pulled himself up with all the strength he could muster and he limped his way to where the silvery wisps sparkled and solidified.

As he drew closer, his surmise came quick: “Portals,” he muttered, hands coming to trace the outline of the wisps.

He turned to either side of his, and found that the pathways were endless, leading to who knew how many more portals and doorways. 

He turned his attentions back to the one in front of him. There was no door, so he simply stepped under the doorway, and it was as if he had fallen into a memory.

_Silence._

_There was only silence this time of the night in the Organa-Solo household. T-2LC—unneeded now as the young master was presumably asleep—was sent elsewhere for the night._

_Ben was free to play and read and stay up if he pleased, now that he had full control of the house in all its expanse._

_He tiptoed into the library, his first desire of the night to get to some neglected reading, when he heard a sob from the study._

_The study was right next to the library, so he crept towards the room, hearing, as he got closer, familiar voices in hushed tones._

_Light filtered out of the study from the open door. Ben hid behind the door, his eyes settling onto the space between the hinges._

_He breathed only once, and then began to listen._

_“What will we do with him, Luke?,” his mother forced out a strangled sob._

_Luke looked serene, even as his sister’s resolve began to crack._

_“He…,” a gruff voice began before faltering. “He’s got too much of the dark in him, doesn’t he?”_

_“He is young,” Luke exhaled, stopping Han Solo from proceeding. “Too young. And it is too early to say.”_

_“But your son is strong in the Force,” he continued. “I will do my best to ensure that his strength is used for the better of the galaxy.” Luke managed a small smile._

_“Yes…Train him. Take him…,” answered Leia,_ and that was the last thing Ben heard before he pulled himself away from this portal.

He pressed a hand to his face and was surprised to find it wet. Apparently, this memory was still fresh in his mind.

He took his trembling hand from his face and curled it into a fist. He was afraid now; of these paths; of these portals; of what doorways to the past they opened, and why. But he needed to know what else lay behind the doors in order to find a way to leave this place, so he trudged on, like he always did; like he had no choice but to do.

The next door he found was an unsettling picture. 

_He was sleeping. On top of Han Solo._

_He was a baby—no more than a toddler, and he was sleeping peacefully on the chest of his father._

_This picture of peace was rare, as Han was usually out in the Falcon with Chewie, going to places Ben could only dream of joining them in._

_But today was not one of those days, and Han snored as a baby Ben rose and fell in rhythm with Han Solo’s breathing._

Ben withdrew from the image, stepping back as if he did not want to disrupt the scene.

None of these made sense to Ben. He didn’t know what to do with himself after witnessing the scenes. Each of the next portals he encountered only seemed to dig at his childhood as the next doorway led to _“Unca Wanwo,” he heard himself yelling as he jumped from Chewie’s shoulders and sailed into the arms of his waiting uncle_ and Ben couldn’t bear it anymore. This childhood where he’d seemed so loved was so distant, so, far, far away and he wished they would be gone, until he heard his own voice again, and his eyes darkened and he wished he were back to sleeping on his father’s chest instead of _this._

_Anything but this._

_He was face to face with Tai, with the Jedi on his knees as he implored to Ben Solo; as he said he knew the real him and Ben could only turn away in shock and in shame as Ren ended Tai with a snap of his neck and the sound came to haunt his ears forever._

Ben stumbled out of the memory and fell backwards, his lungs seizing all the air in the plane as he wheezed and struggled to breathe, struggled to hold himself upright, to hold himself together. _Why? Why was he being shown these? Why was he led here?_ Was it punishment for how he’d been in the plane of the living? Was his sacrifice in vain, then? Was Rey even alive?

Or was this all just another game? He wished Snoke or Palpatine or _whoever else_ had their claws in his mind would come out and stop this and end him once and for all, in all his weakness.

Ben bit his fist, struggling with the tears pooling at his eyes before he finally let out a sob of anguish. He wished for clarity, or peace, or something to stop the pain from coming in waves, drowning him in eternal sorrow, and as he fervently hoped for these things, he closed his eyes, and everything went black.

~

When he awoke again, it was as if no time had passed. He wasn’t quite sure if time even did exist on this plane, but none of it was the matter. He was stuck here anyway. He might as well take his time with everything.

Ben thought that blacking out had done him some good if only because it granted him some rest that he desperately needed, and now he was much more ready to face whatever it was the portals had in store for him.

He moved to stand and, finding that his limp had almost disappeared, turned to walk the pathway to the next closest portal on his way.

Ah, this one was one he was very much familiar with.

_He watched as his past self hurled his lightsaber into the raging waters of Endor._

Ben chuckled at his foolishness and wondered if it was possible to enter, to take his lightsaber back so he could heal the kyber crystal instead, but the pull of what was in the rest of the doors dissuaded him for the time being.

That, and not knowing what ripples this small act would cause had stopped him.

Ben kept walking until he encountered the next doorway. He was much calmer now, coming to view these scenes as a reminder of his history, and he was just about to regard them passively when the next one rattled him to his bones again.

_Everything was burning. From where he stood, he could see the different chambers of the Jedi temple collapsing in on themselves._

_"I never… I didn't want this,” he heard himself gasping for air as he said those words, his arms coming around to hug himself feebly._

_"And you did not choose it, Ben. The Jedi did. Skywalker,” came the silky tones of a voice he thought he had vanquished._

Ben withdrew quickly and sought to bury the voice of his former master into the crevices of his mind by busying himself with another portal. But it was not to be had, for the next one taunted him once more.

_“You have…compassion for her,” the hologram of Snoke flickered, his eyes narrowing in distaste._

_And Ben watched as his past self’s expressions flickered involuntarily, before responding._

_“No—never. Compassion? For an enemy of the Order?”_

And Ben knew then, as he knew now that at the mention of compassion, his mind had settled on the image of him carrying Rey— a scavenger, still, to him then,—out of the forest at Takodana and he did not know how he managed to make it out of that meeting alive.

Ben assumed that more time had passed by with him just walking by portals and hearing the whispers of his past. By now, he was able to piece together that these doorways led to moments in his timeline, though what he did not yet understand was _why these moments in particular._ But he made a silent promise that he would eventually get to the bottom of things and find clarity amongst all of these memories.

As he continued his slow walk past the endless portals and doorways, he heard a voice that made the hair on his neck stand.

_“I’d never felt so alone,” came the sad voice of Rey from the door to his right. He peeked at the scene before him, and was surprised to find himself inside the moment they’d truly connected for the first time._

_It was moments before they would touch hands. Rey was recounting her experience in the cave. He looked at her, and the sight of her still took his breath away._

_There she was, seated on a wicker basket, a cloth hastily wrapped around her shivering shoulders to ward off the cold._

_“You’re not alone,” he heard himself say, and mean it._

_“Neither are you,” came Rey’s gentle reply. His skin tingled and then there was her hand as it slowly, slowly reached out to touch him._

And he couldn’t look at this moment anymore, couldn’t bear to hear her say that when he was now, well and truly, alone.

 _I thought I’d find answers here,_ he remembered she’d said. 

“Yeah, me too,” he replied, shrugging, as he slid down the side of the door into a seated position. Ben began to think. He needed to get out of here. And before he figured out how, he had to know where he was. 

He breathed out a puff of air and began to play back the previous moments. He’d viewed the scenes in his timeline as if they were all video transmissions in holograms or lectures in holocrons. 

_Lectures…_ the thought niggled at his mind.

He seemed to recall in his lessons, of a place that existed between all of time and space. A place between places. A mystical plane. What was it they’d called it? 

_Vergence Scatter…Netherworld of Unbeing…_

“World between worlds,” he whispered sagely.

But hadn’t that been a thing of myths? Hadn’t that been what Palpatine had sought, but failed to enter? And how could he have gotten here in the first place?

And just as this last thought swirled in his mind, the blue butterfly reappeared, and with it came again the voice he thought he would never hear again; not this soon.

The voice that had called him a creature in a mask, a monster, a murderous snake…

_Ben._

“Rey,” Ben gasped, his right hand clenching into a fist. He would know her voice anywhere, even in the here that was nowhere.

Her voice echoed around the plane. Ben began to jog, catching the distant echoes of Rey’s voice until her voice sharpened discernibly. 

She was yelling. 

“Rey!” Ben called out.

He’d wanted desperately to help her, to let her know where he was, but even he couldn’t be certain, only vaguely registering that he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. 

Ben jogged towards the voice, running past doors and voices that beckoned from his past. There was no time to open them, as he had done earlier. Rey’s voice would fade soon and he had to find her.

At the last echoes of her tones, Ben found himself standing in front of a door that was different from the rest. This one was frosted over, the facade sending cool tendrils of ice wafting towards him.

He shivered once, taking one look back at the rest of the portals, before finally pushing against the one in front of him. 

It eked open, as if expecting him, and the first thing Ben Solo felt since awaking to this nothingness was a chill that soaked his bones. The air smelled damp, the ground beneath his feet, cool.

Everything around him was covered in frost. Beyond the door lay sharp rocks, and in the middle of it all lay a small, dark pool. Behind the pool was an ice wall, and although it seemed reflective, it was opaque still, to the eyes.

Ben began his approach, the ground beneath him slippery. While he made his way across, sidestepping the pool in the middle, the voice seemed to disappear, replaced by a snapping sound, but soon enough, it returned, this time returning warbled, obscured by the thick block of ice.

“Please,” he’d heard her say, as the outline of Rey placed a hand on the ice. Ben found his feet moving, on their own accord, towards Rey. Always, he seemed to walk towards her, towards her light.

If there was a way to get out of this world between worlds, he would spend as many lifetimes as it took to find it, and he would get back to her, get back to Rey.

He knew now that it didn’t matter who he was or what he’d done. All the pain he’d suffered wouldn’t matter, and all the galactic grief he’d caused would be a debt he would willingly pay to the galaxy if only to see Rey alive again; if he could be with her…see her…take her hand in his once more… 

It was no use hiding the truth now here, where no one else could judge him for it. And the truth was, for him, that all roads led to Rey.

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, he made the final steps towards her, and he placed his hand where it could touch hers, a wall and a world apart.

And though he didn’t know how to leave this place, or how to get back to her yet, he muttered a vow he swore to keep—perhaps the most important one he would make in his life…

“I’ll come back for you, sweetheart. I promise.”


	2. It could have been anybody, it was after dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey breathed in, and spoke. “When…when you said the belonging I sought was ahead…what did you mean by that?”
> 
> Maz smiled to herself, and Rey sat up straighter at that. She wanted to know. She wanted Maz to tell her. But she didn’t want her suspicion confirmed. “Ben,” her traitorous mind had exclaimed. “Ben.”
> 
> “My child, not what. You mean who.”
> 
> “I—, I don’t know what you mean,” she said, smoothing her tunic down. 
> 
> “Oh,” Maz tutted. “I am quite sure you do.”
> 
> Or: Rey is grieving and finds herself somewhere unexpected.

Rey could not, for the life of her, get some sleep.

Back on Jakku, whenever her stomach would rumble from immense hunger and she had no portions to eat, she would dutifully lay on her makeshift bed and force herself to sleep in order to endure her hunger pangs.

But now, stomach full, for once not from nutripaste, but from the feasts at the never-ending celebrations of the Resistance, she found herself, not for the first time since Exegol, unable to sleep.

In her waking hours, and in the few precious hours of sleep she would get, her mind kept wandering back to Exegol, back to Palpatine, to Ben.

At the thought of her other half, she sat up on the cot and reached a hand towards the ground. She picked up a rumpled sweater and brought it to her chest, before looking down at the garment in her hands, thumb playing with the hole on the sweater.

She missed him. She really, really did. But she was sure no amount of longing for Ben, no matter how extreme, would bring him back.

She was sure she would feel like a part of her was missing forever.

Rey shook her head. She hated getting like this; feeling all teary-eyed and vulnerable, but it was so difficult to feel any other way when she had no strength to put up a good show and smile. But right now, Rey felt desperately like she had to try. For her peace of mind, for Ben.

She placed the sweater on her pillow, hand caressing the fabric one last time, before she hopped off her cot and made her way outside to where the festivities were happening.

~

Ajan Kloss was a vibrant jungle moon that the Rebels had used as a base after their headquarters on D’Qar were decimated by the First Order. While, at the height of the war, the greenery was dotted with starfighters and x-wings, now it was scattered with long tables overflowing with delicacies from all over the galaxy: nutricakes, Jogan fruits, and other foodstuff brought by the many merry-makers to the tables.

After Rey had buried the sabers on Tattooine, she returned to Ajan Kloss just as the celebrations were about to begin, and now, walking out into them again 26 standard hours later, they were still in the thick of their celebrations.

It was as if the entire galaxy had turned up to celebrate the demise of the First Order and the Emperor.

Rey ducked under an overhanging branch and made her way through the throng of celebrants. Amidst the crowd, she sought out Rose or Finn or Poe—any of her friends, really, so she could put thoughts of Ben and her immense grief to bed for the night.

Instead, she found Maz Kanata, and before she could register it, Rey’s legs made their way to Maz, who was seated in a corner of the base, drinking quietly.

Rey sat on the ground, a few feet away from Maz.

A few beats passed in silence before Maz spoke. “There is celebration, and yet you are troubled,” she mused, turning to face Rey.

Rey’s lips quirked into a smile. Maz was astute. She couldn’t hide how she was feeling from Maz even if she tried. “I don’t feel like celebrating right now,” she replied.

“Yes, I sense that. And…something else,” Maz’s eyes narrowed.

“I—,“ Rey began, “I have a question I wanted to ask you,” she continued, toying with her tunic nervously.

“Ask, my child,” Maz nodded.

Rey breathed in, and spoke. “When…when you said the belonging I sought was ahead…what did you mean by that?”

Maz smiled to herself, and Rey sat up straighter at that. She wanted to know. She wanted Maz to tell her. But she didn’t want her suspicion confirmed. _“Ben,”_ her traitorous mind had exclaimed. _“Ben.”_

“My child, not _what_. You mean _who._ ”

“I—, I don’t know what you mean,” she said, smoothing her tunic down. The confirmation of her speculations stung, especially considering the present, but she still couldn’t quite believe it.

“Oh,” Maz tutted. “I am quite sure you do.”

Rey breathed out a sigh. She truly could not hide anything from Maz and her all-seeing eyes. All Rey could do was close her own eyes, tears springing from them anew, and bow her head.

~

38 standard hours after the celebrations begun, the merry-making was finally beginning to simmer down.

Rey was preparing the Millennium Falcon for flight. It wasn’t that she had somewhere to be. It was just that she would rather be anywhere than here right now. These days, Rey had spent more time flying out on the Falcon than staying with the Resistance at the base, or at a single place, really. She missed Poe and Finn, but they didn’t know what went on with Ben in Exegol, and it pained her that telling them could potentially turn them against her.

No one else knew, except for Rose. _The brunette overheard Rey crying for nights on end, and when she finally approached Rey one night, Rey’s shoulders gave way and she sobbed in the arms of her comrade—no, her friend._

_Rose had taken to Rey’s story with a mix of shock and the use of minor expletives, but she had, at the end, regarded Rey wistfully._

_“I wish we’d all known just how much he meant to you. I’m truly sorry for your loss, Rey,” she whispered in the dark, taking Rey’s hands in her own and clasping them tightly._

_One of Rose’s hands let go of Rey’s and crept towards the pendant strewn around her neck._

_“Losing someone you love is never easy, but it helps to try to remember them and their time here,” she said._

_But Rey hadn’t known loss before. All her life, she’d been alone, and just when she thought she would never have to be again, Ben was snatched away from her like a doll from a child._

_Rey sobbed harder, and Rose only tightened her grip on her, shifting to envelop Rey in a hug._

_“I—, I’ve never grieved before. What is it like to remember…how can remembering be enough?” She was crying into the neck of Rose now, so lost in her tears and this grief that she’d been holding in all this time and she sobbed and sobbed hoping the pain would soon dull._

_After a while, when Rey’s cries turned softer, her tears flowing only ever so often, Rose replied._

_“It never is…but it’s all we have,” she smiled sadly, hands clasping Rey’s hand, and her pendant even tighter._

That next morning, Rose advised Rey to busy herself to keep from grieving.

“It’s one way to cope,” she assured her, eyes smiling in comfort at Rey.

And Rey decided that she could cope by piloting the Falcon, where she had the freedom to come and go as she pleased, now that her training was complete and the evils of the galaxy had been defeated.

Besides, flying the Falcon also gave her an opportunity to focus on flight checks and planetfalls and landings and coordinates instead of on grief and longing and Ben.

This time, her next destination was the Chommell sector in the Mid Rim, on the system Naboo.

“Why Naboo?” Poe had questioned her when she mentioned flying out the next day to him, and Rey fumbled an excuse about hearing about Naboo’s rolling fields and loving all the greenery, not getting enough of it.

It technically wasn’t a lie, so she could get away with it, but Finn persisted in the questioning.

“There’s plenty green here, Rey,” he joked, but his eyes were wary. He’d been like that recently…since feeling her fade out in the Force. He was afraid for her. She knew. She felt it.

Rey placed a hand on Finn’s cheek. “I just have to go. I’ll be fine,” she reassured him and Poe.  
  
“Sure you won’t need an emergency pilot?” Poe quipped, a lopsided smile pasted on his face.

“I’m sure,” Rey smiled back at him.

When she turned away from her friends and boarded the ship, she found Rose and BB-8 already inside.

“I think I know why you’re going,” Rose smiled, holding out a packed bag of provisions.

Rey smiled. “Leia told me to visit. After the war…with her supposedly,” and at this statement, she sniffed. “But anyway, I’m fulfilling a promise.”

BB-8 chirped a sequence of beeps.

“Sorry, BB-8. Not this time,” Rey said, smiling down at the droid.

“How long will you be gone, this time?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know,” Rey replied, looking down at the floor of the Falcon. She never could tell what it was that she was looking for, but it was because she was seemingly searching for something to quiet her emptiness inside that she went on these trips.

“I’ll comm you when I make planetfall,” she promised Rose.

The two hugged, and then Rose made her way down the ramp of the Falcon, and Rey entered the cockpit, preparing to make her way out of Ajara.

When she made it into space, Rey relaxed her control of the ship. She’d done the necessary flight checks and was now just cruising comfortably along the Cademimu sector.

The General had told her before of Naboo, and of her biological mother Padmé Amidala Naberrie. She’d heard the woman was graceful and beautiful, intelligent and fiery, and it was such a tragedy that she had passed on early. What changes she would have made in the galaxy, had she been alive until today.

At her musing, she entered hyperspace and soon enough, she was surrounded by a vibrant green and was making planetfall at Naboo.

“Rose, I got here safely,” she commed.

The spray of the ocean skimmed the underbelly of the Falcon, and just as Rey was preparing to make descent, an Opee expelled water from its back vents, splashing the Falcon on its underside.

Luckily, the fish did not see the Falcon, else it would have crushed through the steel and Rey and BB-8 would have been fish food.

Soon, she was flying towards an estate whose green roofs seemed fashioned after the green of the planet. The domes of green were connected to brown, sand-colored structures that extended into a circle. Beyond the palace was a pool that also formed a circle around the landing area and some trees, the circle bisected by a pathway leading to a small fountain and into the palace.

Although it was beautiful from above, and she would have loved to land, Rey thought that she had somewhere else she needed to be, and soon enough, as if the thought had brought her closer, she was approaching Varykino, the lake retreat of the Naberrie family.

The villa was a sight to behold even from above. The stone walls, as well as the domes topped by green roofs, were wrapped in vines, and there was a balcony that overlooked the lake. The villa was surrounded by trees and greenery and Rey fell in love with just one look.

She landed on a patch of land near the villa. When she disembarked, she carried only the bag Rose had packed for her and took the pathway towards the villa.

Once inside, Rey couldn’t help but marvel at the walls and the columns covered in hedges. Beyond her lay entryways that led to the balcony, and it was just as beautiful at eye-level, as it was when she’d been flying over it.

She approached the ledge, and was surprised to find that the lake was so very blue—as vibrant as the sky and the butterflies themselves, and though the waters were calm, she could sense a danger, still, lurking behind them.

Further away, Rey could see an island, and could almost make out another structure overlooking the lake. Then, she turned again to the green of the land the villa sat upon. As she looked around in awe, a man came, as if out of the blue to greet her.

“Hello, young lady. I am Pelle Accu, the caretaker of this villa. What brings you here?” he asked cheerfully, and Rey could see that he was quite old, but sprightly for his years.

“General…I mean Princess Leia said I should come here once the war was over,” Rey replied, adding “…with her.”

And at this, Pelle looked around, as if searching for her companion.

Rey fidgeted for a moment, and then spoke up again. “But I mean…I’m here alone, now.”

After a few beats of silence, she blurted out, “I’m Rey.”  
  
Pelle seemed to regard her with curious eyes, and for a moment, Rey was worried he would turn her away and so she prepared to say that it was alright, she would just come back another time, when Pelle broke out into a smile and simply said “Welcome, Mistress Rey, to Varykino!”

Rey breathed out a sigh of relief.  
  
“Let me show you around,” Pelle beckoned inside with one hand.

And Rey, not trusting herself to speak again, simply nodded.

“This room is the dining hall,” he said, gesturing to a wide room with a large table and set of chairs that was not unlike the long tables at the celebrations on Ajan Kloss.

The hall was situated in an open space, near the balcony, where fresh air was free to make its circulation for the guests.

“We will be dining here later this evening,” Pelle chirped, and Rey thanked him.

The next rooms that Pelle showed her were the salon, full of plush red couches where they entertained guests, and then the many bedrooms in the villa.

“There’s been no one here, for so long,” Pelle lamented, and Rey couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of the war.

“How long have you been caretaker, Pelle?”

“Almost as long as my father and my grandfather, Paddy, before me. My grandfather served the great Queen Padmé Amidala Naberrie,” he puffed out proudly.

Rey was in awe at the loyalty of the Accu’s, quietly musing to herself that this loyalty was indeed a rare and precious thing.

As they got to the higher levels of the villa, Rey found herself drawn to one of the rooms. She stepped inside and was shocked that a bed could ever be that luxurious. It was a four-poster bed with a delicate net hanging above, serving as a curtain for all four corners of the bed.

The room was sparsely decorated, except for an ornate side table and a chest at the foot of the bed. Further inside the room was a wardrobe, which Rey could see, was filled with clothing.

Rey, who was already halfway across the room, heading towards the mesmerizing shimmer of the curtains on the bed, made a mental note to return to the room later to explore, when a blue butterfly fluttered in through the open window, and Pelle suddenly spoke.

“Ah,” he exclaimed. “You have an eye for a room’s furnishings. This was Queen Padmé’s chambers.”

And at the mention of this information, Rey shied away from touching the bed.

Something about it felt so personal, that she felt she was suddenly intruding.

“Oh,” was all she could say.

“This is where the mistress stays,” he gestured. “Where you will stay,” Pelle finished, offering to take her bag from her at once.

“Oh,” Rey squeaked out again. There was no way she could stay here.

“You are too kind, Pelle. But I will stay on my ship. My quarters are there,” she said in a rush, waving her hand in the general direction of the Falcon.

“Nonsense. It is customary,” Pelle insisted. “You will stay here for the night. The Queen would have wanted it,” he said, with a glint in his eyes that was curious to Rey.

“You mean the Princess Leia?” she couldn’t help but ask, wondering if Leia had left word that she would visit soon.

“If you like,” Pelle nodded, and Rey was left even more confused now.

He’d left her in the room after that, and Rey was left to her own devices. She sat on the chest at the foot of the bed and placed her bag beside it. She looked around the room again and her eyes still landed on the beautiful bed behind her.

She played with the shimmering fabric of the curtain, and then propelled herself backwards onto the bed, laying with her face to the ceiling. She didn’t know how long she stayed this way, but soon after, it was dark, and Pelle was back to call her for dinner.

It was a quick affair, with the food not being memorable enough for Rey beyond that it was good and had filled her. She seemed distracted this evening, and uneasy, still thinking about Pelle’s words earlier.

Rey prepared to go to bed, sure that this would be another sleepless night. For a while, she tossed and turned, and soon enough, she lamented that no matter how beautiful the bed was, she could not go to sleep all the same.

She rose from the bed, and let out something in the middle of a yawn and a sigh, stretching her arms wide in the air. She decided to explore the rest of the room now, since she had nothing better to do at this hour anyway.

She proceeded towards the foot of the bed first, kneeling in front of the chest. She hoped it would be open, and that maybe there was a book or two that she could find inside to distract her, but it was empty, filled only with cobwebs and dust.

Rey looked around the room, and as her eyes landed on the wardrobe, she found herself walking towards it at once.

Inside were dresses for all occasions, though Rey couldn’t tell for which ones. She ran her fingers through the different fabrics—silk, velvet, cotton. The textures and styles were all new to her fingers, only having heard of these fabrics from traders on Niima Outpost. She’d never seen such luxury in her life.

As the moon glittered in through the many windows of the room, the beams landed on one particular dress. Rey moved further into the wardrobe until her eyes were met by the most magnificent dress she’d ever seen.

It was a mixture of metal and silk: it looked dainty and dangerous at the same time. The dress was sleeveless, but some fabric billowed downwards, collecting by and cinched at the elbows and the length of the arm. The sleeves were held up by the same metal as the one that formed a necklace above the breast, although this time fashioned as cuffs at the upper arms, for structure.

Rey took the dress in her hands and once she turned it around, she gasped. The back was practically exposed, the fabric only holding up until just above the backside, before piling downwards into the skirt.

Rey turned to the mirror at the back of the wardrobe and raised the dress to its full height, and only then did she see that as it flowed, it changed color—from a solid cream, to yellow, then to pink and purple.

The shimmer of the change in colors was hypnotic. Rey hedged for a moment that it would be a shame for the dress to go unworn. There was probably no harm even if she just tried it, since the dresses had had no owner for quite a while now.

In the moonlight, Rey took off her leather belts and straps, and stripped off her tunic first, peeling the leggings off of her legs next. She took off the wrappings of her armbands last, until she was completely naked.

She shied away from peeking at herself in the mirror, and then took the dress from where it hung. She slipped her legs into the opening at the back first, and then slid the dress up, one hand clutching the garment to her chest as she placed her other hand into the cuff of the sleeve. Then, she did the same with the other hand. All that was left then was to fasten the clasps of both the fabric and the metal necklace, which she finished in two quick motions, and then there she was, staring at the mirror, wearing the beautiful dress.

She ran her fingers over the fabric, and, as she looked at herself in the mirror, decided in a rush of foreign notions of beauty to let her hair out of her customary buns, so that it flowed freely down her back.

The moon glinted off the mirror, and as she admired the ethereal quality of her appearance, she decided that she would like to look at the lake at this moment.

Before she could changer her own mind, she quickly made her way to the lower levels, arriving at the balcony as the moon glowed particularly brightly that night.

Rey rested her arms on the ledge and looked out towards the lake. In Varykino, everything seemed to shimmer. Even at this hour, the lake was still very blue, and it sparkled with every splash of water.

Rey found herself humming, her mind peacefully relaxed for the first time in a while.

Her skirt and her sleeves billowed in the wind, and it was as if the wind was caressing her exposed back as well.

The scene of peace went on for a while, the lake hitting against land rhythmically, Rey continuing to hum.

A blue butterfly fluttered once again at the side of her eyes, and as Rey turned to watch it, it was as if all sound in the universe was muted, and she was in a vacuum.

She looked over her shoulder in time to see a shadow by the entryway, but instead of feeling fear, she was entranced. Then, she heard a voice that stopped her heart.

 _“Rey.”_

She breathed out.

“Ben?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wham bam thanks for making it to the end! 
> 
> Just a few things! 
> 
> For the purposes of this fic,  
> 1) Paddy Accu had a family and  
> 2) Padmé’s wardrobe was definitely not destroyed in 32-34 ABY. 
> 
> P.S. If you want little story snippets or updates on my writing in general, you can follow me on twitter @punkbitchreylo !
> 
> See you in the next chapter! Peace!


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